DESCRIPTION: Background: The Society for Medical Decision-Making (SMDM) is a professional, academic organization that was founded to promote scientific and methodological rigor in decision science applications to health care. The Annual Meeting is the focal point of the organization's educational activities and regularly attracts more than 500 attendees. The meeting provides a forum for presentation of novel research based on decision theory and analytical models applied broadly to health-related decisions in ambulatory care, hospital medicine, and public health domains. [unreadable] [unreadable] Purpose: The 29th Annual Meeting is scheduled to be held in Pittsburgh, PA (dates: October 20-24, 2007). The theme for this year's meeting is "The Science of Decisions: From Discovery to Understanding for Patients, Providers, and Society" and follows the traditional SMDM meeting format. The scientific program includes both oral podium and poster presentations of current research findings based on submitted abstracts addressing a wide variety of analytical methodologies and health care applications. The meeting also includes a day of short courses that serve as a means for attendees to acquire and/or refresh skill sets needed to conduct high-quality health services research. As in recent years, the 2007 meeting includes a keynote address plus two related special sessions in which the meeting attendees gather to discuss a current topic of particular importance. An evening social event and other formal and informal sessions round out the meeting agenda. This year's special sessions include a related symposium and moderated debate on the topic of genetics and personalized medicine. [unreadable] [unreadable] Through the R13 award mechanism, the current proposal requests funding to support several components of the meeting, including 3 theme-related short courses, the 2 sessions on personalized medicine, and costs to record and disseminate proceedings from these symposia. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]